Why didn Plaths husband, Ted Hughes, feel that same responsibility?
“He said he published Ariel in a chronological format because publishers were already familiar with some of the poems. You have to remember that she continued to write up until her death, and she was very efficient about getting her poems out. Many of those poems had already been published, and book editors wanted them even though Plath didn’t want to include them. He agreed to re-edit it in chronological format and include those final poems. At the same time he removed several poems. The result was a very different book.” If Ariel had a message of hope, why did Plath despair in the end? “She struggled against focusing on herself for many years. Very late in her life she started to realize that her true subject was herself. Her life gave her art. As she was putting the Ariel manuscript together she realized her art showed her how to live. The poems told her the way out of a seemingly untenable situation. Artistically she had achieved her greatest desire, but her life was still a shambl
